Daily Radio Bible - October 12th, 21

Having had pastored a church for 15 years, many people have come up to me in church and they've asked if the church has a lost and found. I've lost my Bible. And I'm wondering if, if it's in the Lost and Found they would say, well, Nehemiah is describing for us one of the most egregious occasions of someone losing the Bible. These people were exiled for 70 years. And during that time, the public reading of the Bible had been lost to them. It was this Bible that told the people who they were, who God was, it was their story, and their place in God's story. It was a story of God's love and faithfulness, for them, and for the whole world. And now as they're reading this last book, they begin to weep. The Israelites were weeping because they were seeing God as their loving parent, always seeking always searching for this last child. They were weeping because they had never heard these words before, that they were loved. They were also weeping because now they knew who they were. Having been kidnapped and gone for so long, it was easy to forget who they were. But now they're hearing for the first time that they were always loved, that they were never forgotten. They were lost. But now they were found. This is why Nehemiah says, Don't mourn or weep on such a taste this for today is a sacred day before the Lord or God. This is a day when we celebrate, because that which was lost has now been found. That which is dead has now been brought back to life. Does that sound familiar to you? That sounds like the gospel doesn't it? That sounds like the story of a loving father who searches and finds his child. There may be a time for weeping. But there is also a time for great joy in a time to party. My prayer is that you would look into the word each day that we together, would look into the word each day and realize who we really are. God has long for you sought you with all his heart. He's made you his own. He's included you into the life that he shares with his son. May each day be a celebration of the God who finds and that will be our joy. And that's the prayer that I have for my own soul. That's the prayer that I have for my family for my wife, my daughter's my son. And that's a prayer that I have for you may be so

You are loved!